which means "son" in Ladino, follows Rebecca Cohen’s journey across four countries, exploring family, exile, resilience, and the joys and struggles of womanhood.

SYNOPSIS

Kantika by Elizabeth Graver is a lush, multigenerational Sephardic saga following Rebecca Cohen from early 20th-century Istanbul to Barcelona, Havana, and New York. As her family faces displacement and loss, Rebecca rebuilds her life through love, work, and motherhood. Centered on identity, exile, and resilience, the novel explores the female body as a source of both suffering and joy, celebrating women’s tenacity and the enduring pursuit of beauty and belonging.

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WHY WE LOVE THIS BOOK

Coming soon

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Elizabeth Graver’s fifth novel, Kantika, was inspired by her grandmother Rebecca, who was born into a Sephardic Jewish family in Istanbul and whose shape-shifting life journey took her to Spain, Cuba and New York. Kantika was awarded the Edward Lewis Wallant Award, the Julia Ward Howe Award, the Massachusetts Book Award for Fiction, and a National Jewish Book Award.  It was named a Best Historical Fiction Book of 2023 and Notable Book  of the Year by The New York Times, and a Best Book of the Year by NPR, Lilith and Libby, and translated into German and Turkish.

Elizabeth’s fourth novel, The End of the Point, was long-listed for the 2013 National Book Award in Fiction. Her other novels are Awake, The Honey Thief, and Unravelling. Her story collection, Have You Seen Me?, won the 1991 Drue Heinz Literature Prize. Her work has been anthologized in Best American Short Stories, Prize Stories: The O. Henry Awards, and Best American Essays.  The recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, NEA, Newhouse Center for the Humanities, Yaddo and MacDowell, she teaches at Boston College.

ElizabethGraver.com